Ad hits Shaheen on immigration

Republican Senate hopeful Scott Brown is unleashing a new TV ad focused on border security against New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, tethering her to President Barack Obama on an issue that has dominated the headlines in recent weeks.

The spot shows Brown, the former Massachusetts senator now running in the Granite State, talking to the camera, describing the various checkpoints Americans go through to get into government buildings, an airplane, a ballgame.

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“But folks who come here illegally, they just walk across the border,” he says, calling it “wrong,” as the camera pans over a field of low, dry grass.

“Thanks to the pro-amnesty policies of President Obama and Sen. Shaheen, we have an immigration crisis on our hands,” Brown says. “We respond with compassion, but it’s time for us to secure the border once and for all.”

The spot is part of a six-figure ad buy, according to a campaign official, who said Brown is the first candidate in a statewide race to focus on the current crisis.

The ad is set to go up as new polls show the issue of border security, amid news coverage of the swell of children crossing the border from Central America to escape violence in their own countries, has risen in importance with voters.

A CNN/ORC poll last week showed 51 percent of respondents put securing the border at a premium, more than those who chose finding a path for legal residency for undocumented immigrants. That’s a flip from a February poll, according to CNN.

Brown is the overwhelming front-runner for the GOP nomination, but there is still a primary race to be won, and his position on border security could play well among base voters.

“Even Republicans recognize that Scott Brown’s campaign is failing to gain traction, and this negative ad reeks of desperation,” said Julie McClain, a spokeswoman for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. “Scott Brown knows both Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte voted for a comprehensive immigration reform bill that strongly increases border security.”

CORRECTION: McClain was incorrectly referred to as a spokeswoman for Shaheen’s campaign in a previous version of this story.